romney's comments that 47% of the population did not pay income tax, and then it was pointed out that many of these people are retirees, some of them are soldiers fighting overseas. it is true that some people who did not make a lot of money do not owe income tax, in part because they get tax credits like the earned income tax credit, which outweighs the tax liability they have. even the poor, they pay a percentage of their income and payroll taxes. if you only look at income taxes, under a lot of people who do not pay income taxes, but almost everybody pays a lot of money in payroll taxes and sales taxes and state and local taxes and property taxes. it adds up even if they're not paying income tax. host: how would you compare the current talks to july 2011 and the debt limit, fiscal cliff, sequestration -- guest: the debt limit talks definitely set the stage for this. they were not completely without value. i get the sense it is a lot more serious now. it has almost been like a year- and-a-half long negotiation. with the real deadline being the expiration of the bush tax cuts at the